[MIT Undergraduates] Welcome and Updates from the UA!

[Martin F Holmes]

Dear Students,

Welcome back to MIT!  As your student government, the Undergraduate
Association (UA) works to represent your interests and institute changes
that improve your life.  Since taking office last May, we have worked with the
administration and other student groups to achieve the following successes:

* DINING:  Closed Pritchett Dining and formed a special committee to
investigate long-term dining solutions
* TEXTBOOKS:  Formed a partnership with the COOP to provide an online
textbook store that will list required textbooks by Spring 2008
* SAFERIDE:  Secured full funding for Boston Daytime Saferide and increased
Saferide's overall capacity to prevent crowding

Here are some of our important current initiatives:

* HACKING:  Working with hackers and administrators to develop clearer
hacking guidelines and policies
* CAREER FAIR HOLIDAY:  Shifting the date of the fall Career Fair to an
Institute Holiday
* REX:  Working to allow RBA dormitories to participate in REX
* TECHCASH OPTIONS:  Partnering with local restaurants to expand the use of
TechCash
* ONLINE MID-TERM COURSE EVALUATIONS:  Piloting an evaluation system this
semester

This year, we also hope to improve our ability to represent you by playing a
more visible role at MIT--one that makes us more accessible to you.  We will
start these efforts with weekly office hours each Friday at a booth in the
Student Center.  We will also use traveling UA Executive meetings, suggestion
boxes, and newsletters to collect your feedback and keep you informed.  You are
always free to contact us about any concerns.

* PRESIDENT:  Martin F. Holmes '08 (goholmes at mit.edu)
* VICE PRESIDENT:  Ali S. Wyne '08 (awyne at mit.edu)
* SENATE SPEAKER:  Irina Shklyar '09 (ishklyar at mit.edu)
* SENATE VICE CHAIR:  Jason C. Forte '09 (jforte at mit.edu)
* TREASURER:  Lucia T. Tian '08 (ltian at mit.edu)
* SECRETARY-GENERAL:  Alice A. Chiang '08 (achiang at mit.edu)

Lastly, we hope to minimize the spam we send you.  That said, be on the lookout
for two important emails in the next week--one about UA Senate and 2011 Class
Council elections and another directing you to a survey that will provide
us with valuable feedback so that we can better represent you.

We look forward to serving you and making this year a spectacular one!

Sincerely,
Martin Holmes and Ali Wyne